Fresh blow for Obama as James Jones quits as national security advisor

Barack Obama lost another key aide today as General James Jones announced he was stepping down as national security advisor.

White House officials insisted Gen Jones' departure was expected and that he had always planned to leave his post after two years.

But his decision will do little to shore up public confidence in the president following a number of departures from his inner circle.

Quitting: General James Jones (right) is stepping down as President Obama's national security adviser

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel stepped down last week to launch his campaign to become mayor of Chicago, while senior adviser David Axelrod and top economic aides Larry Summers and Christina Romer are also quitting.

The White House announced this morning that Tom Donilon, Gen Jones' deputy, will take over as the top security adviser.

Obama hailed Gen Jones, a lifelong military man before his White House post, as a 'dedicated public servant and a friend to me.'

Mr Donilon, seen as a workhorse figure in the White House, brings to the job a long background of Democratic politics and diplomacy.

The 55-year-old was among the advisors believed to have urged the president last year to resist Pentagon requests for a larger troop increase to combat Taliban militants. Obama eventually agreed to send an extra 30,000 soldiers.

Those of us who support the war effort maybe should be a wee bit concerned,' said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The president told congressional leaders in a letter this week he had no plans for any major changes in his Afghanistan war strategy, at least for now. A comprehensive review of that strategy is set for December.

Mr Obama ordered the extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan last December but also announced they would start coming home in July 2011. His plan calls for stepped-up training of Afghan forces to take over increasing responsibility from foreign troops in the war that began in late 2001.

Naming Mr Donilon as Gen Jones' replacement, the president said today: 'We have some huge challenges ahead. We remain a country at war.'

At a Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to play down suggestions of tensions with Mr Donilon, after he was quoted as saying in a new book that Mr Donilon would be a 'disaster' as national security adviser.

'I have and have had a very productive and very good working relationship with Tom Donilon, contrary to what you may have read, and I look forward to continue working with him,' Mr Gates said.

The resignation of Jones had been expected as part of a mid-term reshuffle at the White House, although he was thought to be going after the Nov. 2 congressional election.

Mr Gates has signalled his intention to resign sometime in 2011. Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, is also expected to retire.

The series of departures will give Obama an opportunity to reshape his national security team as the United States tries to find an exit strategy from the unpopular war in Afghanistan, to wind down the war in Iraq and to pursue a multi-pronged strategy to end nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea.